We’re used to hearing of software being described as “free as in freedom” and “free as in beer.” But there’s another kind of “free” that doesn’t get talked about as much: “free as in puppy.” This concept is based around the idea that when someone gives you a free puppy, that puppy isn’t really free. There’s a lot of work and expenses that go into its daily care. The business term is “total cost of ownership,” or TCO, and it applies to anything, not just open source software and puppies.